Sheffield DocFest has unveiled the Industry programme for the its 30th edition, running 14-19 June. The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Sparking Curiosity.’
The Industry Programme and Market are run in conjunction with the Festival and comprises 21 Industry Sessions for industry delegates, a Craft Summit, Marketplace Sessions, four Live Pitch sessions, the Filmmaker Challenge, Alternate Realities Summit, six marketplace Rough Cuts and selected BFI DocSociety Works In Progress screenings (by invitation) – as well as the flagship MeetMarket pitching forum.
Events highlighted by the festival include:
Filmmaker Challenge
Academy Award winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald is confirmed as mentor for the Filmmaker Challenge during which 6 early-career UK filmmakers will make a short documentary in and around Sheffield during the festival, undertaking the challenge of making a film on the fly, with a micro budget and equipment support.
Events and Meet the Commissioners
The It’s Real! The Documentary Film Council Open Assembly – Shaping the Future of UK Documentary Together and The D-Word: Why Disability Inclusion Doesn’t Have To Be Difficult will include speakers from UKTV, BBC; Meet the Commissioners with broadcasters featuring the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky, and Meet the Commissioners with streamers featuring Netflix, Prime Video and Disney (Nat Geo + Starz)
Pitch sessions
There will be four pitch sessions for emerging filmmakers: The Whickers Pitch, Channel 4 First Cut Pitch, BBC Storyville Development Pitch, The Podcast Pitch. During the Whicker’s Pitch projects will compete for the £100,000 Film & TV Funding Award; the Channel 4 First Cut Pitch to secure a commission for a 60-minute film, and one month of fully-paid development and mentorship with an indie. BBC Storyville Development Pitch will award the chosen project(s) up to £3,000, and the Podcast Pitch is the first time the festival will host a podcast-only pitch format with two prizes of £5,000 and £2,000, supported by The Whickers.
Sheffield Talks and Panel sessions
A total of 21 Sessions for industry delegates will include discussions and panels in collaboration with industry partners BBC, BFI, BAFTA, Channel 4, Doc Society, ITV, Royal Botanical Garden, Kew, National Geographic, Channel 5, Sky Documentaries, National Videogame Museum and Documentary Association Europe. The events will cover industry topics such as disability inclusion, 10 Ways to win a commission, pathways for the new talent, neurodiversity inclusion, social mobility, journalistic integrity and creative distribution and exhibition.
Beccy Ashdown, Talks & Sessions Senior Producer says: “This year, the industry sessions programme will pose some big questions. Has the industry opened up to working-class voices? Do we risk compromising projects and authenticity of the subject, or is there still a middle ground to tell the stories that filmmakers, contributors and commissioners believe should be told? Is journalistic integrity under threat with the rise of disinformation and AI? How do we support the mental health and wellbeing of the industry, to allow people to really thrive? We look forward to debating and discussing, the future of documentary together in June.”
Craft Summit
The Craft Summit is a curated day of panel sessions dedicated to the techniques that go into non-fiction filmmaking, from shorts to features, the festival writes. Featuring the creative minds behind many of the films in this year’s programme, they explore how they have developed their craft, the creative choices they make and the tools that they use to achieve their vision. Sessions include an Editing Masterclass with editor and filmmaker Maya Daisy Hawke (Navalny), AI-driven editing with Adobe and Meet the Music Supervisor with Steph Grace-Summers, the Music Supervisor & Consultant behind BBC’s 8 Bar – The Evolution of Grime.
Marketplace
MeetMarket is DocFest’s flagship pitching forum, which take place on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 of June 2023. The Switchboard provides advice on the people to meet at this year’s market, Snap Chats is the networking mixer, while DocFest Round Tables are intimate sessions with experts in series, festival, distribution and creative fields. The Marketplace Sessions present “a valuable opportunity to meet and connect with potential collaborators and organizations,” writes the festival.
